The 99 Cent Store

A few weeks ago on the day I went to the library I also went to the Dollar Tree store. I have been hearing lots of stories from various blogs about how awesome dollar stores are. So I wanted to try it out. It was horrible. It was filthy, with trash and items from the shelves all over the floor. The displays were a mess, where everything was just left in a pile from people rifling through them. I left the store and crossed that one off my list, never to return.

The other day we ran by Goodwill on our way to the grocery store to drop off some stuff that we didn't need any longer. Right next to Goodwill is a 99 Cents Only store and I peered in through the window as we drove by, noting that it seemed to be much more clean and organized. So on Sunday I decided to try it out and see what I could find. My purpose was the go get little presents for boys for Christmas. I have a new favorite store.

Would you like to know what I got?
2 sets of plastic tools, so they can work with daddy
2 coloring books and 2 boxes of crayons, since they like to color
2 toy trains
4 packages of stickers, because they love stickers
5 gift bags to package presents
1 framed picture that goes perfectly with our soon-to-be color scheme

Wanna know how much I spent? $18.21. Yep! Would have been at least double that at Target or anywhere else.

It was awesome! I was so happy with the store and everything I got. The store itself is very clean and organized. There were a few places where some things were a little messy, but you could tell that the owners (or a dedicated employee) took care of the store. And the items! They have a whole half wall of tupperware and plastic items. And another whole shelf unit of ceramics & glass (plates, mugs, glasses, jars, etc.). A pretty large kitchen utensil section, a large grocery section with things like teas, pastas, canned goods, a frozen section, even a small refrigerated bin that had cauliflower in it. And I found the juice that I love at a price of 2 cans for $0.99! I fell in love. Everything in the store is $0.99 or less. And its ok if anything breaks (or gets destroyed) because it didn't cost 20 bucks! I am thinking I will go back and get a whole ton of drinking cups and plates for when we entertain. And maybe another picture... And another coloring book... And maybe some juice...


*By the way, what do you think of the new background? I can't decide if I like it or not...*

What's Cookin': Turkey Tetrazzini

I make this quite often and it always goes over well. Today I made it with leftovers!

Turkey Tetrazzini
1 lb spaghetti, cooked and drained - .00 (leftovers!)
1/4 C spread - .08
1/4 flour - .04
1/2 tsp salt - .00
1/4 tsp pepper - .00
1 C chicken broth - .04 (I used bouillon)
1 C milk - .14
2 Tbs dry sherry or water - .02 (totally guessing there)
2 C cubed turkey - .00 (leftovers!)
3 Tbs grated Parmesan - .90

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet melt the spread. Add flour, salt and pepper and cook, while stirring, until white and bubbly. Add broth and milk and bring to boil while stirring constantly. Remove from heat, toss in sherry, turkey and pasta. Spread into a greased casserole dish, sprinkle with cheese and bake about 30 minutes or until bubbly and cheese starts to brown.


Total: 1.22

Variations: I usually make this with chicken and heavy cream rather than milk. However, I didn't have cream (plus it's expensive) and I had turkey! It's not as rich, but tastes just about the same, only better because the turkey was exceptional. If you were to add in the price of chicken and cream it would add about $3.00 based on prices around here. You could also probably do this with ham, but if you do be careful with the salt. The recipe calls for a can of mushrooms, but Ben doesn't do mushrooms so I leave that part out.

This usually makes around 6 servings - 4 for dinner, 1 for Ben's lunch, and 1 for the kids and I - but tonight... Tonight we ate the whole thing.

What's Cookin': Turkey Dinner!

Before Thanksgiving we bought a turkey which, until Saturday night, had been sitting in the fridge ready to be eaten. I don't know how, but it had stayed frozen. I had procrastinated about cooking it because I had an incredible fear of cooking a whole giant bird in the oven. I've never done it before. And it wouldn't fit in my Crock pot (which is stupid-proof for cooking) so that idea was out. I was afraid I would either over or under cook it. When I bought those 6 chickens last week Ben told me that I had to cook the turkey before I did anything with them. So we did. It turned out perfect! Better than perfect! I put it in a brine Saturday night and let it sit, which gave it amazing flavor and made it so juicy. Ben and I were both incredibly impressed. We are thinking that next year maybe we will do our own Thanksgiving on Wednesday. I had to get a picture of the meat because Ben attacked it to try it out before I remembered to take a picture of the whole thing.

The Best Turkey Ever
1 Turkey (about 12 pounds) - 16.91 ($2.00 off coupon!)
1 quart apple juice - 1.26
3 quarts water - .00
1 Cup kosher salt - .32
1 Cup brown sugar - .42
5 cinnamon sticks - .70
1 Tbs red pepper flakes - .20

In a giant pot large enough to hold the whole bird, combine all but 2 quarts of water on high heat. Heat until the salt and sugar has melted and the mixture just starts to froth. (The recipe said boil, but I was impatient). Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Place the bird in the liquid and add the rest of the water, or enough to cover it completely. Place the pot in the fridge over night. Ours sat in the brine for about 16 hours. If you don't have room in a pot, use a large bucket and just add the liquid after it has cooled. If you don't have room in the fridge, add a large amount of ice to the pot/bucket and that should keep it for a couple of hours.

About a half an hour before you are ready to put it in the oven, remove the bird from the brine, pat dry, and let sit for awhile to allow some of the extra liquid to drip out. I placed my cooling rack over the sink and let it sit on that to drip dry. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Place the turkey in the oven, breast side down (this keeps them juicy), and cook for about 3 - 3 1/2 hours. It's done when a probe thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 180 degrees, and the breast should be about 160 degrees. This was about 3 hours and 15 minutes for our gas oven. Remove and let sit for about 20 minutes to let the juices redistribute. Carve and devour!

We served this with about a pound of mashed potatoes with gravy (about 2.00 with milk and butter), two cans of green beans (1.00), a box of stuffing (1.43), and leftover biscuits from Mum's Christmas Party (.00).

Total: 24.24

Variations: I got the recipe for the brine from the roast chicken book I got at the library. And of course I changed it a bit because I can't leave things alone. It called for equal parts juice and water, but I didn't want to use all our juice so I decreased it by half and added extra water. I also added in the red pepper flakes. I'm not sure if they really made a difference but holy cow that turkey was good.

This was a very expensive meal for us because of the turkey. But this was sort of our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner combined. All four of us ate until we were stuffed - Ty kept walking around rubbing his belly which was horribly cute - and we have a TON of leftovers. Ben's finally happy because we have turkey leftovers in the house, and I'm happy because I got over my fear of cooking a whole turkey!

Needs & Wants

Tonight we are going to the store because we're just about out of some essentials (like coffee creamer. Ben can't live without it) and Foodsco has a killer sale on whole chickens ($.67 a lb!!). At least it seems to be a killer sale. I haven't been doing this long enough to know for sure.

My new routine, like I've said before, is go to through the flyers and make my list from those, adding up the prices as I go. I don't have a "per week" number, but if we're over what I think we should spend or what's left for the month then I scratch out the extras that we don't really need. Today it was bacon and mayonnaise.Unfortunately we're still over, but this is a gradual process.

Retraining my brain and how I shop has been a continual challenge for the past month and a half. Even though we did really well last month, I'm still trying to do better. Because of this challenge, I've been thinking a lot about needs and wants as far as food goes. I am going to try to cut out a lot of the things that are extras, while still keeping the things that make Ben happy because... well it makes him happy and I like it when he's happy.

For example, tortillas. Premade tortillas are a want. Something I can easily do at home but always just bought because I was lazy. This will save us money.

Three or four or more kinds of cheeses are a want. I don't often use anything except cheddar and sliced American. So I should just worry about stocking up on those, and leave the mozzarella and Parmesan for a really good sale since we don't really use it. (Although the boys do come in asking for "white" cheese sometimes.)

Red meat is something I'm thinking of seriously cutting down on. It's so blasted expensive. We like chicken around here, and with whole chickens being so cheap I can happily start using it more.

Also, I know I've seen recipes for Hershey's syrup, which is definitely not a need. I can make that rather than buy it. If I can just get it down to keeping the staples on hand, then I think we can do better.

There are so many more examples of all the extra stuff we get. I have a top shelf in my pantry full of things that have only had an ounce or two used up because I thought at the time that I needed it. Asking myself "is this a need or want?" will help us reduce the amount of food that just gets wasted. Which is good since I hate throwing money in the trash.

What's Cookin': Breakfast Paninis

Last night was just tacos with beans and leftover ground turkey (pretty boring) so today I'm mixing it up a little bit and giving you what we had for breakfast. I had the idea yesterday, made it for Ben today, and he said it was really good. I also made some for the boys and I and they scarfed them down. Alas, I don't have a picture because I didn't think about blogging it until after they were gone. If I make them tomorrow I will take a picture then.

Breakfast Panini
1 egg - .14
1 slice American Cheese - .15
2 pieces thin "deli style" ham - .14
2 slices sourdough bread - .12
2 tsp. Mayonnaise - .04 (I didn't actually measure it, this was just a guess for price)

Scramble the egg and cook it in a small pan. Meanwhile, spread each slice of bread with mayo. Place cheese and ham on one side. Add the cooked egg, folding to make fit if you have to. Place other piece of bread on top, then grill in a sandwich press, or in a pan while pressing down with a spatula.


Total: .59

Variations: You could use almost any cheese and any meat you like. Turkey and swiss with the egg would be tasty as well. You could also add more condiments like dijon mustard.

Ben likes to have protein in the morning so he doesn't fall asleep by 9 a.m. You get a good amount of protein out of this from the egg, ham and cheese combined which will fill you up for longer. You can't get a breakfast sandwich ANYWHERE for .59, and this one's tastier than any you could buy. Combine it with a glass of fruit juice and you're set for the morning!